Ashleigh Whaley
December Activities and Adventures.
December Activities:
Homeschooling.
Christmas in Zimbabwe.
December was a most enjoyable farm month! The children were able to just be children, with no school commitments, nor strict time schedules.
They did, however, have to keep up with their daily chores and the spring cleaning of the school office and their bedrooms. Otherwise, they were free to enjoy farm life and just do their own thing. With no travel trips scheduled, they were able to spend the whole month on the farm.
There was much excitement, as the Christmas decorations went up, complete with wild flame lilies.
Chess in the farm office. 
Chess on the verandah.
Murray John received a chess game for Christmas. He was immediately determined to learn the game and to beat everyone!
December 2021 will always be remembered for the many chess games and as a special happy family time spent on the farm.
Murray John and Rooibok. 
Paula Joy and Ladies First.
Christian Camp.
With school out Paula Joy was able to attend the Zambezi Ministries three day Christian camp, along with 150 other children.
She had an awesome time out in the bush and came home full of camp stories and having made new friends. She will certainly attend again next year and I do recommend it to all children of 12 years and over.
Friends Visits.
During the month the children had some friends over to stay and lots of fishing was enjoyed. As the smaller dams are nearly empty, they learnt how to catch Catfish off the banks. Fishing certainly kept them very busy during most afternoons.
Mum’s Health.
Thankfully, I am now on the correct treatment for my illness and am starting to feel human again. I was finally diagnosed with Rickettsia, which is a tick or flea bacterial illness. It has been good to be able to take things slowly this month, which has enabled me to catch up on all the chores I needed to do.
As we start school in the New Year I need to get as much rest as I can, in order to get myself strong again. I did manage to ride a horse, for the first time in 6 months! I really enjoyed the experience, although I only managed a slow walk around the farm.
Murray John the digger driver.
Murray John loves spending the first few hours of each day in the digger. He moves coal for the tobacco barn furnaces around the yard.
Through this experience he is learning about all the different types of coal, and the quality of coal from each supplier. This is something that can only be learnt through experience. The challenge in January will be to get him off the digger and into the classroom!
Homeschooling Friends.
The kittens give us so much joy and are now part of the family. They have made our Christmas extra special this year.
Homeschooling Arts and Crafts.
Paula Joy continued to help me with the renovations of our new town house. She worked on various painting projects. Paula Joy enjoys interior design as much as I do, which makes for great fun together, as I share my knowledge and she gets very involved. We have now completed most of the urgent renovations.
Murray John’s idea of art is the work shop, where he spends hours fixing tractors, motorbikes etc. He is certainly gaining lots of experience, through watching and helping the workshop mechanics.
Horses.
Summer polo weekends.
Doug playing against the kids. 
Paula Joy pushing Doug off the ball.
Douglas and the children had their last summer polo weekends in early December. I am so impressed to see how much the children have improved over this year.
The polo ponies will now have some time off, whilst the young horses are brought back into work for the rest of the month.
Paula Joy ready to play. 
Doug is the horse trough.
Farm horse fun.
December is always time for long hacks around the farm and some other fun horse rides. It is also the time to spring clean all the tack, ready for the New Year. To improve their stable management skills, the children continue to check their horses twice a day.
Paula Joy has started to train our new horse which came off the race track. She is making awesome progress, as she follows the Clinton Anderson Fundamentals. I am sure ‘Ladies First’ will become a special horse in the future.
December Adventures:
Farm Life.
Tractor Demonstration.
An exciting new Massey Ferguson tractor and inline harrow arrived on the farm for a demonstration. Murray John spent the day watching how the harrow was set up and all the changes required to make it work efficiently. He then drove the tractor, well into the night, whilst the testing continued.
This proved to be an awesome education for him and he now knows the difference between the various makes of inline harrows, plus which one is best suited to the soils we currently farm on.
Tobacco Reaping.
Irrigated tobacco reaping got under way this month. It’s amazing how quickly the time goes from planting to reaping. Fortunately the crop has recovered from the hail damage it received in November.
tobacco reaping for the barns. 
tobacco reaping for the tunnel.
Banana Planting.
The banana seedlings have now been planted out into the lands. This is a labour intensive job which took quite a while to complete.
Planting out the banana seedlings. 
Seedlings arriving at the field.
Zimbabwe Economy.
Zimbabwe inflation continues to go up daily. The government doubled the road toll fees in early December, so once again we are back into hyperinflation. Who knows when this craziness will end?! We are always just thankful to make it through another month.
Read more about how we cope in Zimbabwe here, ‘We Found ‘Candies and Blossoms’ Amidst Adversity!’
Environmental Awareness.
Two giraffe are still living on the farm and Murray John managed to see them early one morning. It’s so beautiful having these gentle giants near us.
The Lord says, “To those who listen to My teaching, more understanding will be given.” Mark 4:25.
May God bless you all in 2022. Always remember to let God guide you throughout each day…
Please write your comments below….
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